Loved this book. My first book from this author. Made me a total fan with this book. would read this again and again.

A book to make you smile. Five college friends celebrate graduation together and put their wishes out to the universe.
Ten years later with little contact they meet up again before the beach house is put up for sale.
Careers and life has taken them in different directions but can they find the connections they once had?
Secrets, illness, death and birth have changed them. Add partner's to the mix. The fun and dynamics have changed.
Enjoy I did

I loved this book and could hardly put it down. Very easy book to read. Would recommend this to anyone

Five flatmates are leaving Dublin University, they spend the weekend at Erin's beachside house that she inherited from her grandparents. They make wishes and promise to be friends forever.

Ten years later, Erin is a successful actress and widow, she's determined to sell the house but wants one last party with her old college friends so she invites them, and partners for a final weekend.

Alex is a best-selling author. Tara is a recovering drug addict, Becky is a successful massage therapist, and Beth is a teacher with MS. And the other halves? TROUBLE. Each of them comes to the weekend with secrets they want to hide, not least Alex who met Tara's new boyfriend on the flight over and made an instant connection.

Can you ever resurrect old friendships? Have the friends move on? Can you be friends when you hide the truth about your life from them?

I really enjoyed this, as we all get older we do leave friends behind, not intentionally and it can be hard to reconnect but these women push past that and find some deeper truth.

Recommended for anyone who thinks everyone else has it all together.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC read! Summary: Our prologue gives us a glimpse into the chaotic lives of 5 girlfriends in college at Dublin University. Fast forward to present time (10 years later) and no one has really kept in touch. So Erin invites the other 4 girls and their guests to stay at her home for a weekend trip to reconnect like old times. Things get crazy and we end up with two couples broken up by the end of the trip. Near the end we get a glimpse of ten years in the future and it ties up all of the loose ends or questions for the reader.

Thoughts: I need this author to write more books! She is highly underrated. I read “Bootcamp for Broken Hearts” and really enjoyed that one too (haven’t read anything else by her)! I loved the storyline and felt like it pulled me in. It was like you were a fly on the wall and really got to explore and learn about how each character operated/what they had been through in life. I read this in 2 days and couldn’t put it down. It was cute, heartfelt, and hilarious all blended into one excellent read. There are some trigger warnings to mention (depression, spouse death, emotional abuse, substance abuse). Highly recommend this one! Strong female leads as well. Rating: 4/5 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was somewhat of a different read for me. I tend to choose first person POVs but was happily surprise by how much I enjoyed third person, and how I got to see all 5 sides of the story.
While I loved all of the girls, Alex and Aidan’s story was my favorite. I did hate that they somewhat cheated, but they were soulmates destined to meet. I kept turning the page to see when I would get to read about their love story next. The longing looks and heartfelt interactions gave me all of the feels. However, I was deeply invested in all 5 of the girls lives, hence the reason I read this book in two days. This book reminded me of a mix between the show Friends and the Yaya Sisterhood.
I am from the US so some of the references were lost on me, but it was refreshing to experience a story that I wasn’t familiar with because it was able to transport me into it right along side Alex, Beth, Becky, Tara, and Erin.
I was surprised to see names mixed up multiple times in the story (names switched with others), but I was able to decipher the typos and know who was being talked about.
Overall, this was a quick and cute read perfect for your summer vacation and I highly recommend!

Massive fan of Joanna’s witty writing that I am, I was not surprised to fall for her latest tale of frazzled friendship. It’s been ten years since a quintet of university friends last met, each promising to stay in touch while fulfilling their dreams. Not exactly the famous five, they have each gone in different directions, agreeing to return to Erin’s family home in Ireland a decade on. There’s been relationships, work engagements and tragedy, but when the five reunite, surely things will go according to plan? After all, they once were the best of mates. Life has managed to get in the way, however, but that doesn’t mean you cannot expect laugh out loud moments from a writer whose style is one to be celebrated.

Friends get together ten years after finishing school and realize they’re all keeping secrets. But friendship is forever and they love each other enough to work through the drama. This was a good story about being truthful and staying in touch and being there for each other no matter how busy life gets.
This advance copy book given to me by NetGalley in exchange for this review.

I was really surprised by this book. This is a romance, but more importantly, it’s a story about friendship. The 5 girls couldn’t be more different but the love they have for each other is immense. During their short weekend trip, they each grow and learn so much about not only each other, but themselves as well. And ultimately, this only deepens their friendship.

I love that each of them have very distinct personalities, but are still so supportive of each other. That is what friendship truly should be. I could relate to each of the characters in different ways, but Alex and Aiden really stole the show for me. The author did an incredible job of telling each person’s story and making it relatable. You could feel every emotion they felt. This was such a sweet story.

Five girls from Dublin University gathered at Loughview for a party to celebrate graduation. They had all shared a room with one another at one time or another, and had become the best of friends, over their four years there.

Sending their affirmations out to the Universe, during a beachfront ceremony, they shared what they all hoped the next ten years would bring..

Alex was hoping she would become a bestselling author, with a husband who was madly in love with her.
Erin aspires to become a successful Actress married to the Actor, Andrew Scott
Beth just wants to marry her University sweetheart, Paul and have two kids, a boy and a girl.
Free Spirit Becky just wants happiness with a man or a woman.
And, Tara who can’t commit to anything for long, hopes to find the stability she didn’t have growing up.

They PROMISE to always keep in touch.

28th July, 2022

LET’S SHAKE THAT CRYSTAL BALL and SEE HOW THEIR LIVES TURNED OUT!

Erin invites her friends for a ten year reunion, before she sells Loughview, the property she now owns. They haven’t kept in touch, but they all agree to come, as they weren’t very supportive when she lost her husband.

Three will bring partners.
Alex will arrive SOLO, but excited about someone she met on the flight.
Until that someone arrives as the guest of one of her friends.
Oops!

This story is mostly told in the present day, with some flashbacks to their individual pasts to catch us up on what has been going on in their lives since they parted after graduation.

Can these women really pick up where they left off or have they grown apart for a reason?

Sometimes you need the people who KNEW you “back when” to REMIND you of who you once were and to give you the courage to be that authentic person once again.

This was EXACTLY the kind of book that I was looking for after a couple of heavier reads.
One that celebrates the power of lasting friendships and love, and one that is full of laughter, food and FUN!

I was immediately engaged with this adorable story, and invested in the outcome!!

Although this story takes place in Ireland, it has the same kind of feel as the U.S. TV shows “Friends” and “How I Met Your Mother” so fans of those Classic shows will enjoy spending time with this group too!

AVAILABLE August 7, 2023

Thank you to Bookouture for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

Friendships, love and loss - a heartwarming rom-com celebrating the friends you have around you, and the hardships that people experience throughout life.

''Promise me we'll keep in touch'.. 'No matter what'. And there on the beach, five girls from Dublin University made a promise to do just that. It would be the easiest promise they'd ever make but the hardest to keep'.

Synopsis
Best friends from University, five girls promise to keep in touch with each other. But life gets in the way, and 10 years later - they are finally reuniting for a reunion weekend.

The girls' dreams, ambitions and lives have changed over the 10 years - breakups, rehab, loss - but reconnecting with old friends is the perfect medicine. In their hearts, they are still the five girls from Dublin University.

Thoughts
I enjoyed how realistic this was, the hardships and emotional turmoil you go through in life.

Reconnecting with old friends, after 10 years - their personalities are more 'polite', but as we go through the weekend, the girls realise that these are the people who have been there for them for 10 years, stripping away the polite persona and being the girls they are at heart.

'And there on the beach, five girls from Dublin University toasted the women they once were and the women they continued to be'.

I enjoyed the storylines with the girls' new partners - causing some drama! And of course this feeds into the rom-com part, causing a little bit of a stir!

There were a few places where the names are wrong, Becky being called Beth, Aiden being called Alex which confused me slightly - but I'm sure this will be resolved in the final copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this copy. This review is voluntary.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honet review.

What a cute Rom-Com. I enjoyed this one and found it funny. I enjoyed the friendships between characters and the romance. I needed something funny and this did not disappoint.

This is a must read if you are a Rom-Com fan and even if your not give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

This is not my usual genre but it was recommended to me by the author’s mother. A group of university friends go their separate ways after graduation. Ten years later , they meet for a reunion. What has changed in their lives, their dreams and ambitions? Each of them has baggage which they may or may not reveal to the others. They are only together for a weekend so there is a feeling of urgency to reconnect. Throw in a couple of strangers ( partners) and wait for fireworks. I found myself liking some of them and disliking others. I liked the idea that we all choose to reveal the ‘nice’ side of our personality or the side that will fit in - so what happens when we need to be honest? This is an easy read about friendship, grief, love, honesty and dreams. Thank you to NetGalley for a prepublication ebook.